The Narcissist's Kingdom
by TheShadowWriter
Summary: King Naru is soon to be wed to Princess Hara, meanwhile, pigs fly, wizards battle, tea is thrown, as their tale is turned upsidedown in the unforgettable classic, The Narcissist's Kingdom rated T for safety
1. A quick prologue

Another story is starting while I'm working on one of the biggest stories I've ever done. I hope you enjoy it! But before you do, I need to tell you. I don't mean to insult any religion at all. If I do, I'm sorry.

Notes:

1. I don't own Ghost Hunt!

2. I am working on three stories at once

3. Prepare for a twisted, strange, weird story.

4. Don't be mad if it isn't what you expected.

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To fully understand the nature of this story, you must first know the characters, and that they behave exactly as they do in the anime.

The first character, prince, or rather, king Naru. Naru is eighteen-years-old and has inherited the throne from his father, with only one catch, he must get married before his half birthday. His bride has already been picked out:

Please welcome, princess Hara. The princess of a neighboring kingdom, Hara was the perfect pick for Naru to marry to strengthen the relationship between the two kingdoms. She is madly in love with Naru and can't wait to get married to Naru.

And who is to be the priest to join this couple? Why, none other than Priest John Brown. The priest of his own Church, John is a peace-lover and will be joining Naru and Hara together.

Next on the character list is the bard, Takigawa. Although he could put the court jester out of work, Takigawa has chosen to be a bard. People take him for a simpleton, but unbeknownst to them, he is a mastermind of schemes.

Our next character is a silent one, the advisor to King Naru, Lin. A man of his own council, Lin tries to advise Naru on the best thing to do. However, advising him could be the trickiest part.

Another character is Lady Ayako. She is staying briefly at Naru's castle, for her sister sent her to strengthen diplomatic relationships.

Add to this story, the magician MiFult. A first-year sorcerer who is struggling to keep his spells right. He is said to be the cause for the pink sheep, the yodeling dog, and the loss of King Alfred's, Naru's father, hair. Despite that, Naru has kept this magician, saying that "Anyone who thinks he's an idiot is an idiot."

And last but not least, the servant, Mai. In a fit of rage, King Naru banished almost every servant in the castle. Through that bit of anger, Mai got a job inside the palace. She has seen very little of Naru, but says that he is indeed a narcissist and she couldn't care less.

Now for the final stroke, add TheShadowWriter's twisted imagination, a couple of guards, one or two ghosts, and a hord of flying pig, and you get the story "The Narcissist's Kingdom."

Now that you know the prologue, you can look forward, or turn away, from the upcoming story of romance, humor, tea, and lots of flying pigs.

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How did you guys like the prologue? I hope you liked it because that's nothing compared to what's coming up next. Please respond and tell me what you think, otherwise I won't know if what I'm writing is good or not.


	2. Meet Naru, Lin, and MiFult

I'm going to enjoy writing this story. I'll be sad when it ends. But before we continue I need you to know a few things:

1. I don't own Ghost Hunt.

2. I am a NaruMai fan forever and for always.

3. I don't know much about furniture or clothing; I call it as I see it.

Let the story begin!

* * *

Welcome back, dear reader. I am thoroughly happy that you didn't turn away from this story, despite the flying pigs and the throwing of the tea. Please sit back as I recount what happened. And by all means, enjoy.

King Naru woke up in his room. He sat up in his four posters, black wood, and crimson sheeted bed. The canopy around the bed prevented the sun from coming in, but Naru really had no use for it as he usually woke before the sun was up.

He got up and went to his closet which was located on the wall to the left of the bed. No one really knew why he had such a big closet, all of his clothes were the same. The colors on all his clothes were black. He wore a loose black jacket over a black shirt and black pants. Oddly enough, he chose not to wear shoes that day.

Why did Naru not wear shoes that day? After some digging, it turns out that all Naru's shoes had been converted into pink, fluffy, bunny slippers as a result of one of MiFult's experiments.

Naru brushed his hair slightly and left his room. Naru started his morning walk to the kitchen as he normally did when he cried out in pain. Looking at his foot, he found a sewing needle protruding from it.

Continuing on, he walked straight into a cobweb, though it has been debated, Naru is extremely afraid of spiders, but you will never hear that anywhere else. Coming in contact with the web, he jumped up and down, frantically trying to get it off.

When he was sure it was off, he glanced around, convinced no one had seen this display, he continued on with as much dignity as he could recapture, only to step into a spot of sludge. What was in this sludge, was never determined, all that was found out was that the sludge was green, glowing, and smelled like tofu. It was thought to be cleaning fluid.

Rubbing it off his foot, and getting considerably angrier with every step, he finally made it to his thrown, whereupon the chair squealed like a pig. This was very peculiar coming from a golden chair with red satin cushions.

"Sorry! My fault!" MiFult said, as he came down the stairs towards Naru's thrown. "I can fix that!"

Lin came in at that moment, dressed in black trousers with a neat white shirt.

"Lin," Naru said, "Fire the maids."

Lin stood there for a moment stunned, "But why?"

"Look around you!" Naru said as his chair turned purple, "The castle is anything but cleaned! They are wasting the castle money, and don't do anything at all! Fire the maids."

"But Naru…"

"Fire. The. Maids." Naru said as his chair started floating.

"Very well, your majesty," Lin said as he went to tell the maids the news.

Naru's chair then turned into a statue of a pink and purple spotted dragon statue.

"I can fix that!" MiFult said.

At the castle gate, wishing the maids a good future, stood Lin. As the maids left, he began to immediately ponder how to get Naru to hire more maids. Lin knew that the castle would never survive without someone cleaning it up. The only trouble was getting Naru to do something that he probably didn't want to do.

Immediate plotting commenced.

"Maybe if I threatened to take away his cotton candy…" Lin mused, "No, that wouldn't work; he'd just get more." Lin spun around in his twistable chair, "I know! I'll have MiFult brainwash him…no, that wouldn't work; MiFult could make Naru exactly like the chickens were when he tried to brainwash them."

Ah yes, the famous chicken incident. Because I know that at least one or two readers will like to know about the chicken incident, I shall tell you.

Precisely two years ago, MiFult had tried to brainwash the chickens to make more eggs. The results were quite interesting: the first chicken started speaking Italian, the second chicken started acting like an elephant, the third started singing "Mary Had a Little Lamb" and to this day hadn't stopped, the fourth chicken, perhaps the most interesting of all, started acting like a mime.

So you can see, dear reader, Lin definitely couldn't have MiFult try to brainwash Naru. I now can return you to Lin's plotting.

"I hate to do it, because it would be so easy, but I suppose I could just sneak one in. I could handle everything after one was brought in…" Lin mused, "I guess I'll do that."

* * *

Well, that took me forever to make. I'm getting lazy, but I'm going to make it up to you. How is a secret, but I will make it up to you.

Meanwhile, if you can do me a favor, look on the page for the button that says "Submit Review." Click on it, and then submit your review. Give me a hint on how well I'm doing. Your reviews count! Otherwise, I won't change because I won't know how to change, savy?

The next chapter will be uploaded very soon. I will try to upload it in three days, and if I don't, you can give me a virtual kick in the pants.

Just to be sure, I am telling you again, I am a NaruXMai fan, and I always will be. If I'm not a fan of something (NaruMasako) I don't write about it.

(What follows are random stuff that you don't really need to read)

This also happens to be one of the longest chapters I've ever written, the following will try to be longer, and I also just figured out how to make lines.


	3. Meet Mai and spiders?

Well, I tried to get the chapter up in less than three days, but sadly, it didn't happen. Oh well, it's up anyway.

Note:

- I don't own Ghost Hunt

- I love NaruMai

- Beware the flying pigs, MiFult's experiments, and the flying tea. Muahahaha!

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Taniyama Mai stared at the sign in the middle of the marketplace; the regal sign with all of king Naru's announcements on it. Normally it had little to no announcements; but today it had the strangest of all:

Job opening for a maid. Must be willing to clean, can handle strange things, can make tea, cook, and isn't afraid of spiders. To apply for the job, come to the castle after filling out one of the following forms. Good luck, be well, and please hurry.

The announcement was signed by Naru's right-hand man, Lin.

Mai looked at her groceries. Her short brown hair draped around the sides of her face. _I need a job,_ Mai thought, _it's hard to make ends meet as it is. With my parents gone money is scarce. _

_**But do you really want to work for the king?**_

_I'm…not sure. He can't be as bad as they say._

_**And if he is?**_

_And if he isn't?_

_**I don't like this situation. **_

_You never do._

_**You never listen.**_

Mai headed off towards the castle gate. She needed the money, and a job in the castle couldn't be all that bad…could it?

Lin sat at a table in front of the castle's enormous gates. He sighed, the line of girls was so long, and it would take him forever to find a suitable maid. Unless…

MiFult rolled up his baggy blue sleeves, "You want me to do what?" he yelled.

Lin's eye twitched, "Please don't yell. I want you to make a swarm of spiders and make them go towards that line of girls over there."

"But Lin!" MiFult said as he wrung his hands, "Naru hates spiders!"

"Do you like things to be clean?"

"Yes, but I don't see what that has to do with spiders!"

"It has everything to do with spiders. If you want things to be clean, do as I said," Lin said. _How does Naru deal with this guy?_

"Alright, Lin," MiFult said uncertainly. He turned to face the long line of girls. Summoning his strength, he rolled up his sleeves again, closed his eyes and…

"Ah! Spiders!" a girl cried out.

"Spiders? Where?" another girl cried out.

Sure enough, an army of spiders was coming after the line of girls. Such an array of spiders was never seen before; some of the spiders had a distinct flowery aroma about them, others were pink, some of them were yelling words that sounded distinctly German. But despite their differences from normal spiders, they scared the girls so much that every one of them ran away.

Lin didn't say anything. Obviously they weren't the maids for the castle. He sighed, "I guess that means that we don't get a maid." His day was not going well. _Maybe I should move to Africa. _

"Hey!" MiFult exclaimed excitedly, "Look over there!" Lin followed his gaze to see something that caused him to fall out of his chair.

MiFult was pointing at a short brown-haired girl who was leaning over and patting a three foot tall spider on the head and laughing while it licked her!

"I think we found our maid," Lin said.

The girl looked up and saw the table empty and picked up a registration form. "Some spiders you have here," she said.

"Yes," Lin agreed, "We unfortunately suffer from a massive spider infestation."

MiFult looked up, "Spider infestation? No that was just…" he abruptly stopped talking due to an elbow to his diaphragm, "I mean, it was the fruit that the flying pigs brought with them when they came here."

The girl looked up, "Flying pigs?"

"Yep, every room was full of them. Hey look! There's one now!" MiFult pointed. Sure enough, there was a tubby porker with pigeon wings flying above them.

"Flying pigs aside Ms..." Lin trailed off.

"Mai. Taniyama Mai."

"Anyway, Ms. Taniyama, seeing as we have no other applications for a maid, you can start working within this week."

"Honestly?" Mai asked, her eyes shining.

"Honestly."

"That's awesome!" Mai jumped up, punching the air. _This may be a mistake, but I'm okay with that,_ she thought. As she continued to bask in her victory, a strange chirping noise was heard. Lin and MiFult peared around Mai to find that all the spiders, from the German-speaking ones, to the camouflage, to the abnormally large ones, were chirping and jumping up as well.

"MiFult, get rid of them," Lin said.

MiFult nodded, rolled up his sleeves and zapped the spiders. The spiders, promptly turned into butterflies. Great big butterflies, camo butterflies, German-speaking butterflies, and one that looked rather like a rat with wings. MiFult rolled his sleeves up again and tried for a second time, whereupon the butterflies turned into frogs. Five attempts later, each resulting in a different creature, the spiders/butterflies/frogs/bunnies/griffins/cats/moose/mice all disappeared.

_Africa sounds really good right now_, Lin thought.

* * *

Well, that was short and rushed, I'll try to do much better next time.

If you want to help, review. Tell me if you want shorter chapters and faster updates, or longer chapters and shorter updates. Either one works for me. But you can only help if you review people! Please and thank you.


	4. Meet Hara, Takigawa, and a meeting

Have you ever googled your name? Not even your real name, just your username? It's really fun to do. I googled TheShadowWriter and found myself. laughs It was very fun. Frustrating, but fun. Anyway, the next chapter is up. cue happy music and so are the following words:

1. I don't own Ghost Hunt!!!

2. Reviews make everything better.

3. You already know the rest, why aren't you reading by now?

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Welcome back to this story, and what little sanity it has. In this section of the story, you will meet the infamous Masako Hara, see the first meeting between Mai and Naru, and finally get to meet Takigawa. cue evil music 

Masako Hara stood at her mirror, brush in hand. As she stared at the mirror, her now shoulder-length black hair fell around her shoulders with a slight flare. Her black eyes sparkled with excitement; for today was the day she would meet her betrothed, Prince Shibuya Kazuya, or as the people had begun to call him, prince Naru. Masako had always dreamed of marrying him, ever since she saw a picture of him printed on a "Keep the World Clean" poster, which she still had.

"Naru my darling, soon we will be married and we'll all live happily ever after!" Masako said to her mirror, as she clutched the brush tightly to her chest. She then began dancing around her room in a way that could only be described as an "Oh my gosh! That person dances just like Cinderella!" moment. However, due to the fact that she had been spending all her time trying to pick out the right clothes, and hadn't put back the ones she didn't want, she ended up tripping over a blue platform shoe. Luckily for her, she landed on her butt.

After regaining her dignity, what little she had, she picked herself up and continued with getting ready to meet Naru.

After that revealing glimpse of Masako, I think it is time for the promised meeting between Naru and Mai.

Mai had finished moving out of her house and moving into the palace. She had even found a suitable workplace uniform to fit her. A blue apron with lily prints on it fit nicely over her light green shirt and her pale blue skirt that dropped down to her knees. After donning said costume, she decided that she had better start making the castle look a little better.

"Due to the fact that the castle maids have been fired without warning, no one knows what exactly they cleaned or how they cleaned it, or if they cleaned it at all. So, I am giving you full leave of the castle, you can go wherever you want, whenever you want, and as long as you clean, you may clean however you want," Lin had told her when she arrived.

"Alright!" Mai said, punching the air, "Today, the castle is going to have the biggest cleaning it's ever had!" Grabbing her bucket and cleaning tools, she set off to clean the castle.

The first place she decided to clean was the door across her hall, the dining room. Apparently no one had been using it. A thick layer of dust had settled over every visible surface, and if Mai's instincts were correct, the dust had probably found its way to the invisible surfaces to.

After rolling up her sleeves, she began cleaning the dining room at a frightening pace. In no time at all, even though to her it felt like years, the chairs and tables were dusted, the floor was swept, the chandelier was polished, and several "lost" items from the castle were found. A pair of pink bunny slippers, a book titled "How to undo any Spell", and a guitar, was only a few of the items that Mai found.

After thinking about what to do with them, she decided that she'd post a list somewhere where everyone could see it, telling them what she found and that she was keeping them in her room until someone claimed them. _Although…the pink bunny slippers are cute enough that I just might want to keep them,_ she thought to herself.

She shook her head, picked up her cleaning supplies and continued on to the next room, the library. Now, if any of you have any ever read any story similar to this one, or are very familiar with movies, you will know that the library is where, of course, Naru had decided at that moment to spend his time. The library was Naru's safe haven from anything in the world that he didn't agree with at the moment. It was also where he went every day from two o'clock to six o'clock. Being as it was now four o'clock; Mai had picked the _perfect_ time to clean the library: the time when Naru was upset and wanted to be left alone.

Mai opened the door to the library and looked around. It had to be the biggest library she'd ever seen! From what she could see, the library had three floors. The bottom floor seemed to be the floor that contained the history of the kingdom. A set of very comfy looking sofas formed a square in the middle of the floor with a table in between. A set of stairs to the left led up to the second floor. The second and third floors both looked like balconies instead of whole floors due to the fact that where most of their floor should be, there was air instead. They also seemed to contain a small reading area on each floor, but from the position Mai was in, she really couldn't tell.

However, from where Naru was, on the second floor, he could tell quite clearly that someone had invaded his personal area. And that someone was not a person he knew. His eyes followed her around the library, taking in everything she did.

Mai began to dust the library. At first she thought it would be an easy task to perform, but as the time went on, she realized that there were many shelves that she couldn't reach. She sighed and went back to dusting. She rose up on the tops of her toes to reach most of the shelves and climbed on the library's ladder – conveniently hooked on a rail as to provide mobility – to dust the rest. However, due to the fact that she is Mai, she did have a lot of fun, going around the library on the ladder.

Even if she did roll around on the ladder a lot, Naru's eyes never left her. It seemed strange to him that someone was rolling around on the ladder while dusting, even stranger that the person was laughing while they did it. Even so, he continued to watch her, never once making his presence known, until Mai took a book off the shelf to organize the books in the library.

"What are you doing?" his voice whispered in her ear. Mai jumped at the sound and turned to see Naru precariously close to her and bent over so as to see her eye-to-eye. Mai's face, against her will, started to blush slightly.

"Well, what are you doing?" he asked again, slightly irritated.

"I w-was just o-organizing t-the shelves," she said. _Curses, I'm stuttering._

"I see. And could you explain why you're doing that?" Naru asked without missing a beat.

"I'm the new m-maid."

"I see. I shall have a talk with Lin. Would you kindly mind not organizing the books? I have them _exactly_ as I want," Naru said.

"Alright, um…your majesty." Mai said, as she turned to put the book back.

"Naru," Naru said as he straightened back up.

"Excuse me?" Mai asked as she stood on the tops of her toes. Unbeknownst to her, whenever she stood on her tip-toes, her skirt raised slightly, exposing a little more of her than Naru needed to see at the moment.

"You can call me Naru. I hate being called 'your majesty'," Naru said after a moment of staring, "May I ask you something Ms…"

"Mai. Taniyama Mai."

"Alright then, Ms. Mai, why is it that you put the book two shelves lower than where you got it out from?"

"I did?" Mai asked as she turned around to look at Naru once more.

"Yes, you did," he said as he picked the book up and set it on its proper shelf. Now, the only person who actually realized that he spent much longer than necessary, stretched out, leaning over Mai, than Takigawa, the traveling bard who had happened to enter the library on a quest to call Naru in for dinner.

Takigawa cleared his throat, "Am I interrupting anything?"

Naru and Mai both turned around to discover the source of the voice. Upon seeing a man dressed in a blue and yellow joker's costume, Mai invariably laughed slightly.

Of course, you will never hear this from anyone else, but Naru had a passing thought that was something upon the lines of: _That's such a cute laugh._

"Well, if I'm not interrupting anything, then I must tell you that dinner's ready. Ah, I see we have a new maid; she is invited to dinner as well as this isn't a formal one. It's just Lin, John, Ayako, MiFult, and I. Well, including the new maid…Mai isn't it?" Takigawa laughed as he motioned them towards the dining room. Mai ducked out from Naru's arm and headed towards the door, Naru following, eyes on her the whole time.

"I saw that," Takigawa said as Naru passed him, "You had your eyes on her."

Naru gave him his "You Shall Die" stare and passed on. It was then, that, even though things were set in motion before, they were now kicked into a frightening pace. For it was at that moment that Takigawa began to make plans as to how he could have some fun, while messing with Naru, and make Mai fall for Naru and vice versa. He chuckled, "This is going to be fun."

* * *

Alright, that's a pretty lengthy chapter I guess. In fact, it's probably the longest I've written for this so far. I don't know why, but the words just flew from my fingers and I couldn't stop. I plan on writing longer chapters in the future though. Alright, remember, reviews keep the story going. 


	5. The Dinner and impending disaster

Okay, another chapter, yay me. Sorry it's taking so long. School's kinda…you know…it's school.

I don't own Ghost Hunt.

I have Writer's Block.

Just read the story already. -.-

* * *

Naru kept a steady pace behind Mai and the devil in clown clothing, Takigawa. He didn't know why, but he had a feeling deep inside him that Takigawa was up to something. To either confirm or contradict his suspicion, he walked a little closer to them.

"Tell me my maid of mystery Mai. Where do you come from?" Takigawa asked, leaning closer to Mai, much to the dismay of Naru.

"The town," Mai said as she tried to inch slightly further away from the impending collision with the land mass known as Takigawa.

"Oohhh the town. I love the town. Say, would you do me the honor of sitting next to me at tonight's dinner?"

"Of course," Mai agreed, a little too readily for Naru's preference, but hey, what could he do?

"You have graced me with your acceptance, and I thank you wholeheartedly for your presence."

Mai laughed at what she supposed was a joke. Takigawa, not quite knowing what exactly she was laughing at, forcibly laughed along with her. Meanwhile, unfelt by their uneasy merrymaking, Naru glared his patented death glare at Takigawa. If Takigawa felt such a glare, he did not show it.

After a few more minutes of the tension of the darkest corner of the world – as dubbed by Takigawa himself – they finally reached the dining room. As it turned out, the dining room they entered was the very same one that Mai had cleaned earlier. Due to the fact that Mai had cleaned with the lights off, she had not been able to fully take in the grand state of the dining room. And now when she saw it for the first time, she uttered the only thing she could think of:

"Wow."

Everything was shining as if it was from…a very shiny place (curse you writer's block). All the chairs were straight, the food looked delicious, and even those who were seated at the table looked as if they belonged to an ancient golden time, now lost forever due to the advances in…everything really.

Seated at the table were three other people. The rather young-looking magician MiFult sat in his regular blue robes. They slightly resembled a monk's robes in style but the brown symbols clearly did not belong to a monk's attire. He smiled a big smile that complimented – scratch that – would have complimented his blonde hair had it been there. Unfortunately, his hair seemed to be missing.

Across from MiFult sat a man of…goodness, he couldn't be twenty yet, could he? His slightly messy blonde hair, his genuine smile, closed eyes, seemed to indicate a teenager. Yet, he was dressed in the traditional robes of a priest. He laughed and joked easily with MiFult. Attempts at jokes were made to the Lin who was sitting next to him.

Lin himself looked positively normal, yet for some reason seemed to add to the splendor of the room. Even though he did not smile, laugh, nor even show signs that he was human, it seemed like he fit right in. Perhaps it was because without him, the room would simply be too pleasant. Maybe he added more realism to the room…probably not, but it could be.

Next to him sat a beautiful older lady of – what Mai thought – to be twenty-three. Her straight brunette hair cascaded down her bare shoulders, complimenting her gray-pink gown. Her dress sparkled with (sparkliness) sequins as she turned to greet Mai, Takigawa, and Naru. Her dress was bare across the soldiers but came up to wrap around her neck. The bottom part clung to her hips before slightly turning away, creating a sashay as she turned.

All-in-all, the scene was enough for Mai to believe, even for a fraction of a second, that she was in a fairy place.

Unfortunately for her, this moment was ruined when the beautiful brunette walked over and gave Takigawa a sound "Thwack!" on the back of the head. At that moment, all of the initial glamour faded away until Mai – who had been holding her breath – could finally breathe, and feel that she might be able to join in with humans instead of faeries.

Meanwhile, poor Takigawa complained at his unjustly beating, "Ow! What in the world has come over you?"

"You're late, we can't start without all people at the table, and I'm starving!" the brunette said, illustrating with her hands.

Sweeping as graceful a bow as he could manage, Takigawa replied, "Forgive me, lady Ayako, I never meant to make you wait or cause you such pain." Standing up, he came face-to-face with a look that either meant "I hate you so much, I would kill you if it wouldn't kill my nails" or "That was so adorable, but I can't show that I think that or else it might kill me". Either way, Takigawa took it as a sign that he was now safe from any further thwackings and so he led Mai to a seat next to him and the brunette.

Naru had slipped away from them when the brunette (for goodness sakes, we all know it's Ayako!) had approached, knowing that it would end in Takigawa getting a – debatably so – justly thwacking. He had begun to eat as soon as he sat down, despite the slightly dramatic show that was going on near the door.

Leaning over, Takigawa told Mai who everyone was and what they did (so I can finally stop calling Ayako "the brunette").

"Tell me Mai, would you be the new maid?" Lady Ayako asked as she delicately sipped some of her soup.

Feeling slightly embarrassed, Mai blushed and nodded her head.

"Then Mai, to you I give all congratulations. This room has never looked better and already, I am enjoying it. I don't know how you put up through cleaning it, but I must say, I love your cleaning," Ayako smiled a genuine smile.

No longer feeling any shame about being a maid, or the fact that she was eating with these faerie-like people, Mai was able to respond in intelligible words, "Thank you very much."

"Tell me Mai," it was John's turn to speak, "how old are you?"

"I am finally seventeen."

"That's wonderful! Seventeen is such a blessed year!" John smiled another huge smile.

Many more questions were asked merely to determine more about Mai. Said person was thoroughly enjoying herself. Every now and then, she would glance at Naru merely to see if he was enjoying himself. She had not forgotten her encounter with him in the library, and she probably never would.

It was then, after everyone was contentedly full that Lin decided it was time to tell Naru about his father's dying words and his bride-to-be. He merely decided it was now, not because everyone was happy and caught up in the fun, but because said bride-to-be was at the castle door.

* * *

And that is how I will leave you my readers. I hope you enjoyed that – because I did. I also hope you don't hate me for the cliffhanger.

And now for a random fact to see if people actually read this:

Did you know that it's illegal for doctors to prescribe herbal medicines? They must – by law – prescribe a pharmaceutical medicine.

One more:

Reviews make the world go 'round! (at least the one I'm in)


	6. Bipolar Hara

You know, you'd think that summer break would be…Oh, I don't know. EASIER TO WRITE IN! But it's not! The camps, the cleaning, the babysitting, the….time for a story.

1. I don't own Ghost Hunt

2. I think my characters are getting OOC.

* * *

Yes, Hara was at the castle door in the flashiest dress she could find. Pure white, puffy, and extremely shiny. Her makeup was done to such perfection it rivaled Ayako's normally powdered face. She was, in a word, beautiful. Even if her beauty was faux, she could definitely pretend to play the part of the beautiful princess to marry Naru. She blushed at the thought.

Lin pushed away his chair, stood up, motioned to Naru, and walked out in a very solid set of movements. Maybe he didn't dance-walk like Ayako, but he had a certain rhythm that only nobles seemed to have.

Naru followed suit and met him outside of the fairytale scene that was happening in the door behind them.

Preparing for the worst, Lin began to tell Naru about everything that had happened: his father's dying wish, his bride-to-be, and most importantly, the fact that she was waiting outside for him.

Naru, who had been listening as aptly as a prince should, opened his mouth, closed it, blinked a few times and then stood still. Inside, his emotions were scrambling in every direction, trying to figure out what he was supposed to do. He wasn't ready to get married! He had expected it, but not now!

Somewhere in the castle, a lamp shattered into a million pieces.

Now the funny thing about castles that include MiFult, is that on the inside of the castle, it will always be a nice, slightly cool, temperature, and no one would ever be able to hear the sound of rain. On the outside, however, if in the slight chance that the fate of a person was being decided by an unseen force that enjoyed controlling their lives, when it rained, no matter where a person stood, they would get drenched.

So while Lin and Naru, who were now walking towards the door to great Hara, looked like fairytale princes, Hara was standing outside, getting drenched by unrelenting rain.

Due to that small fact, when Naru opened the door, he wasn't greeted by the fairytale princess of a normal prince's dreams, he was greeted by the closest thing to Bridezilla a person can be. Hara's mascara and eyeliner now ran down her face in black streaks. In fact, all her makeup was running down her face. Her dress was muddy, soaked, white and showing, and clinging to her uncomfortably. The rain which had so unrelentingly ruined her image had also soaked through into her underwear, causing a great deal of discomfort for the unfortunate Hara.

Staring at this apparition of disturbing proportions, Naru had trouble holding in his laughter, but he managed to do it, if not for propriety then to save Hara from crying as she certainly knew the condition she was in – thanks to a walking mirror which had deemed it worthy to show her how she looked.

"Princess Hara, welcome to my kingdom," Naru said, sweeping a bow, "please, do come in." He motioned towards the warm interior.

Hara gratefully accepted his invitation and quickly walked into warm castle, eager to get out of the rain.

"Thank you so much, Naru! I knew you were a wonderful prince! I can't wait to get married! We're going to have so much fun together! And are kids are gonna be…" Hara began to go on and on, unaware that she was talking out loud.

As for Naru, his eyes were getting bigger with every word she uttered. Wonderful? Married? Kids? If he wasn't ready for marriage, he was certainly not ready to have little bouncing babies of joy.

Lin who was in no way included in their "conversation" was watching with a bemused expression on the side lines. So the long proclaimed "smartest king ever" hadn't made such a smart decision about who Naru was going to marry after all.

It was at that moment that the eyes of heaven decided to add more confusion to the mess and invite all the people who had been dining into the foyer to meet princess Hara in all her glory – or lack thereof.

The first to arrive was Ayako and Takigawa. Both of them looked on with amusement not only at princess Hara who was twirling around emphatically, talking about la-la land, but also at Naru who was going bug-eyed due to a brief lack of self control.

The second to reach the scene of the crime were John and Mai. John and Mai, not plagued by uncontrollable bouts of laughter like Takigawa and Ayako, decided to help out. John stepped up and began talking to Naru about the wedding plans while Mai slipped in and slowly dragged Hara away from the scene before she could realize that people were laughing at her.

As Mai walked away, Naru snapped out of his bug-eyed expression long enough to glance at Mai.

When they had reached a little out of hearing reach, Hara finally snapped out of her self-induced fairytale land. Looking down at her arm, she finally noticed Mai's hand.

"What are you doing?" Hara asked, fire in her words.

"I was just…showing you to your room?" Mai asked, completely confused by Hara's almost bipolar change in emotions.

"Well then, hurry up! You're so slow! I'm going to turn sixty before I reach my room at this speed!" Hara yelled at Mai. Now, no one will ever tell you this, but the reason that Hara was acting as she was might just have been threatened by Mai. Threatened by the fact that Mai, covered in dust, looking out-of-fashion, had managed to attract Naru's attention. Threatened by the fact that she also happened to look very good, maybe even better than Hara, and she wasn't even in royal clothes.

Yes, Mai had become Hara's number one enemy, and she didn't even know it.

* * *

Yeah, that's it. Nothing new down here. Please review. Uh…any suggestions for further chapters? Things you'd like to see?


	7. NAPS and VatonVelise

Hey everybody. How are you guys doing? I hope it's good, because me, nope, my life kinda sucks right now. But moving on, hope you enjoy the story. Usual disclaimer: I own nothing.

In view of last night's events, one can reasonably draw the conclusion that Hara Masako truly is, bipolar, or just confused. Either way you prefer to view it as, Hara Masako was definitely not the type of person Mai enjoyed spending time with. In fact, Mai made a conscious decision as she was returning to her bed, that she would do all in her power to avoid Hara Masako.

"That girl is seriously scary," Mai said to herself as she climbed the last remaining stairs to her room. Looking down in slight dismay, she realized that she looked either like a complete mess or a dust bunny. Either way, she was completely dissatisfied with her appearance and was very appreciative that nobody was around to see her as she was.

Well, I would love to report to you and say that Mai made it successfully to her room with no one seeing her as disheveled as she was, but sadly, that is not the case. Right as Mai was turning the corner to her room, about six feet from the door, something poofed in front of her face in a flurry of pink smoke.

Startled, Mai fell back coughing and gagging as the decidedly too-sweet-to-handle smell infiltrated her nostrils. Waving her hand in front of her face, she tried to clear the air of the pink smoke.

"Excuse me miss, I believe I must apologize on behalf…" a very sincere voice was rudely interrupted in his obviously well thought-out apology as Mai's gagging noises rose to a tremendously frantic pitch. The speaker grew even more worried when he heard a definite thump, signifying that Mai, having not found her sweet relief of fresh air, had collapsed upon the ground in a heap of coughs.

"I say, are you alright ma'am?" Upon receiving no answer, the owner of the voice reached down and helped Mai up and out of the cloud of smoke.

After coughing several more times, a few of her coughs aimed at the young man responsible for the pink smoke, Mai found her voice and was able to reply with some amount of intelligence, "No."

"Oh," the man stuttered slightly, "In that case, um…oh dear. Well you see, it has come to the attention of the National Awesome Pickle Society that your kingdom is in a rather depressing state. In fact, it has been found that your country actually _lacks_ Awesome Pickles and…"

"My fault! Sorry! My fault! Please forgive! Won't happen again!" a sing-song voice called out as if it had said those exact words hundreds of time. And in fact, shockingly, they had. For the interrupter of the National Awesome Pickle Society spokesman's speech was none other than MiFult, who appeared before Mai and the National Awesome Pickle Society spokesman in a flurry of robes that were obviously too big for him and a small bit of chicken feathers.

"Now then, return to your proper dimension!" MiFult commanded, rolling his r's. By a wave of his wand, the National Awesome Pickle Society spokesman went into reverse, his speech, his actions, even the flip of his green hair – yes of course it's green. He's speaking for a pickle company. What did you expect? – were all rewound, all the way back until he vanished, taking all his pink smoke with him.

Satisfied that his work was done, MiFult rolled up his sleeves, chanted "Ate my eggs!" and vanished, leaving a very confused Mai who only had three thoughts left to think inside her head.

The first, being, "National Awesome Pickle Society…NAPS?"

The second thought, going something along the lines of, "I'm too tired to deal with any more hocus-pocus, pickles, bipolar girls, flying pigs! I'm just going to bed."

And go to bed she did indeed. Not even bothering to change out of her pajamas, dust herself off, or even let go of the broom she was carrying along with her, she collapsed on her bed and fell asleep.

Her last thought she had was a rather simple one, "What am I getting myself into?"

But alas, her brain would not let her contemplate the extent of her situation for it had shut down on her completely, leaving her to drift off into a peaceful slumber from which she did not awaken for hours on end.

She was in such a deep sleep that despite multiple screams, "check mate bucko"s, and multiple other loud noises, she didn't wake up even for a second. The only thing that brought her out of her peaceful slumber was the scream of one Hara Masako. The sheer volume, hysteretic, and pitch of her scream sent Mai running to Hara's room. Throwing open the door, searching about the room frantically, and running to the damsel in distress – all in a heroic fashion – Mai stumbled upon a Hara Masako lying on the floor in a mock faint position.

Dropping to her knees – heroically, again – Mai shook Hara's shoulder, "Hara, are you alright? Say something!"

Perhaps it was the shock of being touched by Mai or the fact that Hara saw a spider, whatever the cause, Hara bolted upright and screamed, "Don't touch me!" Holding her royal nightgown sleeve over her mouth, she whispered, "Peasant scum should never touch a royal princess."

To say that Mai was a little insulted and only a little ticked would be like saying that ice is a little cold or the ocean is a little wet. She was completely infuriated with the princess and struggled to answer in as politely a voice she could manner – which still came out infuriated and spoken between tightly clenched teeth – "Yes, _princess_ Hara."

Smirking in triumph, Hara continued in a rather forced princessly air, "I could _not_ believe the condition of this wardrobe! When I came here I expected my wardrobe to be full of Vaton-Velise fashions! Instead, I find," Hara shivered, "Hansel hand-me-downs!"

Mai was, in two words, officially ticked. In the house she grew up in, a child was lucky to have a Hansel "hand-me-down" as Hara put it. Clothes from Vaton-Velise and Hansel Handle were as hard to come by as water in a desert, especially for people who were on the short-end of the stick in terms of money. The fact that Hara had no regard whatsoever for the efforts that were already being made to make her feel at home crept under Mai's skin and slowly took control of her mouth.

"Well, _Hara_," Mai said, "If the clothes here are not to your liking, you could always go down to the market and buy some more. Or better yet, you could, oh, I don't know, _where your own clothes!_" Mai stressed the last statement.

Hearing a snicker and a laugh, both Hara and Mai turned to look at the intruder, or intruders as it were, standing at the doorway were none other than Naru and Takigawa. Naru, who had a smirk on his face, and Takigawa who was all out laughing in huge gales of laughter that bounced off the wall, had both come running upon Hara's scream. However, realizing it was Hara's scream, Naru and Takigawa had both slowed down to let someone else handle the princess. Upon seeing Mai enter, they both stationed themselves at the door to watch the spectacle. However, you will never hear that anywhere else.

Quickly stifling his smirk, Naru came forward and offered Hara his hand, which she gladly accepted. Lifting her up, Naru quickly made some excuse to Hara about breakfast being ready and how her "divine" presence was required. Mai, feeling very left out for some odd reason, remained on the floor, watching Takigawa, Hara on Naru's arm, and Naru leave.

Maybe it was the fact that Naru had seemingly chosen Hara over here – which would make sense considering she was his betrothed – or the reason that Mai had felt so accepted last night but wasn't invited to breakfast, played into Mai suddenly feeling the need to cry. However, she was saved from her tears when Naru looked back at her, a strong emotion in his eyes.

Whether the fleeting glimpse of some feeling she saw was anger, passion, sickness, or just plain curiosity, Mai could not fathom. However, that one glance saved her from shedding any tears as she picked herself up from the ground.

Oh, my dear reader, that seems too much like an end to a chapter to be the end of a chapter. You are so lucky in the fact that this part of my story does not end quite yet. For in fact, as Mai picked herself off the ground, the jester Takigawa turned around, linked his arm inside hers, and began guiding her out.

"Oh my fair Mai, as Naru is blind to all, would you dine with me?" Takigawa asked, using a flowery way of speech.

"Of course, I would be delighted," Mai responded happily, completely unaware of a slightly, almost unnoticeable stiffening of Naru's shoulders.

Please, please, please read this, my dear readers. Unfortunately, I am coming to a bit of a dead end in the series – no I'm not going to stop. It simply means that I would like to know if there is anything in particular you would like to see further on.

Also, I would like to say this about the National Awesome Pickle Society spokesman. What did you think of that? Pretty lame, huh? Well, the funniness is not the point of my question. I am seriously thinking of bring our NAPS man back. Any thoughts?

And another thing, whoa! So much has changed since I last logged in. O.O I am completely amazed by all the changes….Whoa.

Please review. Your reviews make my world go 'round. ^^


	8. Adami, Yuki, Naru, oh Mai!

I am sooooooo sorry it's taken this long for me to update. Unfortunately, writer's block is slowly encroaching into my writing time. However, that's okay, right? Because I'm updating, aren't I?

*laughs* Please tell me you still love me. Also, I read your reviews – squeal – and yes, there will be more jealous Naru.

Notes/Disclaimers:

1. I don't own Ghost Hunt

2. This is a Naru/Mai pairing, for those of you who couldn't tell.

3. Back by popular request, the Pickle man becomes an intricate part of this story. *evil cackle*

4. I am also introducing two new characters – one is the Pickle man. Beware!

* * *

No, Mai never noticed the fact that Naru was just maybe slightly jealous that Takigawa had caught the arm of our fair maiden. Then again, Naru never noticed the slight pang that went through Mai as he escorted our not-so-fair maiden to the dining hall. To a further note, not one of the people currently walking through the halls noticed that MiFult was absent; or for that matter even noticed a curious going-on in the NAPS headquarters. Which, due to the fact that nothing of the interest except mindless chatter happened during the walk to the dining room, we shall do a quick side-step to the NAPS headquarters, until the party finally reaches the epitome of hilarity.

A long time ago…well, actually, the present, in a galaxy that's not very far at all, laid the NAPS headquarters. But more importantly, _inside_ the NAPS headquarters a young man with green hair – again, of course its green – was pacing around at a frightening pace, his head full of images – some not too innocent – of the charming young lady he had met earlier.

It was not for a lack of trying that he couldn't get her out of his head because, truly, he had tried it all. He'd taken potions to erase the memory, pounded his head numerous times with anything he could reach, even hung upside-down to make the memory fall out of his head. Unfortunately, none had succeeded. Images, scenes, and even stories of Mai danced around his head more than sugar plums ever had. (1)

As he paced back and forth, his butterscotch eyes twitched nervously at every syllable his imaginary Mai said. His clothes were, of course, the official NAPS outfit. A dark blue tunic with several golden buttons, matching blue trousers, and green shoes that were pickle colored and shaped. Upon his chest lay a badge that read, "Hello, my name is Yuki, I am a pickle lover." Now, this piece of information may cause you to believe that the green-haired pickle-loving man was named Yuki. However, that is a huge misconception. For you see, the badge that he was wearing was actually Yuki's badge. His true name was Adami – pronounced "Ah-dam-I". He also really did have a badge with his name on it, however, at that moment, due to some unforeseeable event, Yuki was wearing it.

But no matter, the badge was little of no importance to the NAPS council. All that mattered to them was that the world was populated with Awesome Pickles and that their Awesome Pickle Deliverers were wearing a, not their, NAPS badge. However, that is, mostly, unimportant to this story.

After nearly wearing a track in the carpet, Adami stopped and cried out in a voice that would make any sane human being feel sympathy for the man, "Why? Why me? Why do you torment me?"

Upon completion of his words, he fell down to the ground in self-aggravation. Now had this been a movie, soap opera, or even a fanfiction, dramatic, heart-warming music would have played to show how moved and tormented he was by the petite brunette. However, seeing as this is not a movie, soap opera, or even a fanfiction, instead of the mushy music that should have been playing, the heavy strains of guitars and screaming singers invaded his ears instead, alerting him to the presence of the pink-haired Yuki, wearing the name tag of one Adami.

Groaning, Adami picked himself up and faced the punk of pink, the one and only, Yuki. Said girl had long pink hair worthy of jealousy, piercing blue eyes, and a black NAPS uniform, similar to the one Adami was wearing. She was currently attached to her meNote, a magical device which allowed her to listen to her favorite songs. Her intimidating expression of apathy, her powerful stride of superiority, and her aura of arrogance, would probably be enough to send even the most fearsome warrior running home to his mother, if not for the fact that she stood at a mere four-feet-and-eleven-inches tall. Yes, Yuki was, in all other words, short.

However, as her eye level was closer to the ground, she was readily able to see Adami as he stood up and the fact that the nineteen-year-old man that she reverently looked up to, was frowning.

"Hey! Are you okay?" Yuki all but shouted at him.

"I'm fine," he spoke.

"What did you say?"

"I'm fine!" Adami realized he would have to shout, unfortunately, because Yuki was currently plugged into _All But Me_ and their latest punk song.

"You don't look fine!"

"I could not be better!"

"You sure?"

"I'm positive!"

"Then why're you frowning?"

"I am merely frowning because I keep having thoughts of a certain female and I wish them to stop! Ever since I met her," Adami continued, oblivious to the fact that Yuki had taken her headsets off, "My brain has been the most disobedient part of my body since I was potty-trained!"

Now if Yuki were a normal person, like you or I, her baby blues would have widened and her mouth would have fallen open in what could be considered a look of amusement mixed with a slight amount of disgust. However, Yuki, being the smug little punk she was, only elegantly raised a pink eyebrow at Adami's claims.

It was at that tragic point in the conversation that Adami realized he had been shouting, and Yuki wasn't the only one who had heard him. Immediately humiliated, he blushed straight to the roots of his green hair, completely oblivious that Yuki stood there, drinking in the sight of her beloved mentor in his state of vulnerability.

"So why don't you just ask the chick out on a date already?" Yuki asked, shifting her body so that she leaned on her right hip. This was, of course, Yuki's favorite stance. However, this did nothing to increase her height, it merely made her smaller. It also caused her to crane her neck to look up even higher as her mentor was five-foot-ten-inches – and still growing.

"Please, Yuki," Adami said, slightly appalled by his best friend's "street talk", "She is not a 'chick' or a 'dame' or even a 'doll'. She is a lady. I would be pleased if you addressed her as such."

This cued Yuki to initiate her patented eye roll. "Whatever. Are you gonna ask this 'lady' out or not?" To further his aggravation, Yuki switched hips while using air quotes around the word "lady".

Sighing loudly, Adami shook his head.

"Why not? You chicken?"

"No, it's just that…"

"Just what? How could a dame," Yuki quickly corrected herself, "err…lady…not fall head over heals for you?"

"It's not that. I just…"

"What?" Yuki pressed on, full aware that at any minute, Adami might blow as she leaned closer, determined to find out just which chick had moved in on her turf.

"I don't even know her name!" Adami finally blurted out, completely unnerved by Yuki's astonishing blue eyes.

"Is that all?" Yuki asked incredulously.

"I'm afraid that's it." Adami sighed, his head bowed in humiliation.

"Aww come on Romeo, it can't be that bad. Hey, stick with me and I'll help you get the chick in no times." _And by "chick" I mean me, of course. No snot-nosed "lady" is going to steal Adami away from me. Not after all we've been through together,_ Yuki thought to herself.

"Really, Yuki?" Adami asked, his hopes rising.

It was in that moment that Yuki felt for perhaps the first time in her life, a pang of guilt at what she was about to do. His hopeful face was almost enough to send her into a vortex of regret that she was going to make sure that no girl, except herself of course, would ever hold Adami's eyes.

"Y-yeah, sure. What are friends for?" Yuki said, her usual superior tone faltering slightly.

"Oh thank you dear friend!" Adami scooped the petite Yuki up in a bear hug that sent the girl's mind to infinite and beyond.

"No problem," whispered Yuki._But first things first. I must find the dame that's captured his heart. She and I need to have a "chat"._

And now, sadly, it is time to jump from the scheming Yuki and oblivious Adami, back to the castle where the real fun is going on.

After mindless chatting and annoying conversation, they finally had reached the room of their destination, the breakfast dining room. It is very important to understand that there were and are multiple dining rooms inside Naru's castle. This room was not the one from the past evening, which was the purple dinner room; this was the masculine magenta breakfast room.

Naru, being the king, sat at the head of the table with Takigawa on his left and Lin on his right. Mai, having been escorted by Takigawa, sat next to him, leaving Hara, who had been occupied with some small comment Naru had made, to sit next to Lin. For you see, before they had made it inside the room, Naru had most craftily commented on Hara's dress. Hara, madly in love with him, had almost fainted at the brief appraisal, and had began dancing around, consumed with her fantasy. Having been preoccupied, she completely missed out on sitting next to Naru, which she was most disappointed in.

However, she was not the only one disappointed in the seating arrangements. Naru was also slightly put out by the fact that Mai was not next to him. He had, in his kindness, begun offering Mai a chair, when Takigawa had abruptly stolen it, leading Mai to the one next to him instead. Although Mai may not have noticed Naru's left eye twitching, Takigawa sure did, as well as Lin and Hara.

And thus, breakfast began with a sulking Hara, a jealous Naru, an oblivious-at-best Mai, and a cackling Takigawa.

"So Mai," Hara began coyly as the food was set before her, "tell me, where is it that you hail from?"

This question was purely meant to embarrass Mai. However, being as that everyone knew that Mai was the maid, it did nothing of the sort. Instead of blushing out of humiliation, Mai responded calmly and cheerfully, "The Brown district in the upper part of town."

"Oh my," Hara giggled as she put her hand over her mouth, "Such an unsavory part of town. I am not longer in wonder at how you behave with as little…nobility as you do."

Mai finally caught that she had been played along and a small blush settled over the bridge of her nose. "It is only an unsavory part of town," Mai began slowly as she tried to think of a retort, "If you have lived all your life in a palace and had never done a thing on your own."

`Hara's eyes narrowed ever so slightly. "Are you insulting me Ms. Maid?" she asked indignantly.

"Me? I would never _dream_ of such a thing your grace," Mai said in a voice that only slightly sounded of sarcasm.

"I didn't think so," Hara smirked behind her hand. "After all, if I were you, I would know not to insult nobility. Isn't that right Naru?"

Naru grew a little tense at every barbed comment Hara had let loose upon his new maid. And, unfortunately, his mind had wandered down less "unsavory" paths of their own as he saw Mai's blush. The thoughts that dawned in his mind led him far from the road of understanding that Hara had asked him a question, so he remained dormant and did not vocalize his opinions. Instead, Takigawa responded for him. "Ahh, it appears our king's mind has wandered to a place far, far from petty arguments. But I would be delighted in listening further."

Both Mai and Hara turned to glare at Takigawa who seemed to be coaxing them into continuing their fight. After a quick fierce look at the offending clown, Mai and Hara turned their slightly angry gazes upon each other, before deciding to keep quiet like elegant females.

Now although this may have been considered the "right" action it did drench the conversation of the morning under a bucket of awkwardness. Every now and then, Takigawa would make a jest which Mai would laugh at heartily, much to Naru's unhappiness. Even more often than that, Hara would make a less-than-princess-like comment on either Naru's physique or Mai's…well, anything actually.

However, those of you who love catfights never fear. For although breakfast was for the most part civil, the meeting between Hara and Mai out in the hall directly after, was not as civil. However, I must again, direct your attention to a certain pink-haired NAPS officer named Yuki.

While everyone had been having breakfast, Yuki had skillfully appeared in a puff of green smoke inside Mai's bedroom. With a mask over her face, she began readily snooping around the room, determined to learn everything about Mai. She looked for diaries, through her clothes, pictures of her family, anything she could get her hands on that might tell her what Mai had that she didn't.

Meanwhile, unbeknownst to her, the time when Mai would come waltzing into her room, creating a confrontation between the two women, grew closer and closer. However, such thoughts did not concern her, as she had begun burying herself into reading Mai's diary.

* * *

And alas, that is where I leave you. However, the next chapter will contain an entire page of Mai and Hara going at it and the fateful confrontation between Yuki and Mai.

I would like to say that I have suddenly fallen in love with Adami and Yuki. I have never created a pairing on the spot before, but this is definitely my favorite ever! What do you guys think? Wow! This thing is 2000+ words!

Any comments, questions, concerns, more importantly reviews, please tell me! ^^


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